Russia takes Europe’s support to calm Belarus

18 August 2020 — Indian Punchline

M.K. Bhadrakumar

Opposition protests in Minsk, Belarus, Aug 16, 2020

The mercurial Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has not been an easy ally for the Kremlin. But the growing interference by Belarus’ “New European” neighbours is setting the stage for a “colour revolution” with potentially anti-Russian orientation. Poland, egged on by the US, has convinced itself that it has become a regional heavyweight and eyes Belarus as a valuable piece of real estate that could shift the military balance on Russia’s western borders.

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The Virus: The PR Firm Behind WHO’s Celeb Endorsements

15 August 2020 — Dr Mercola

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • “Soft power” is a term that refers to stealth influencing using celebrities and other social media influencers
  • In May 2020, celebrities and social media influencers agreed to “pass the mic” by allowing the World Health Organization and other pandemic response leaders to use their social media accounts to share their messages
  • The WHO paid PR firm Hill and Knowlton Strategies $135,000 to seek out influencers to help build trust in the WHO’s coronavirus recommendations
  • As noted by Corbett, Hill and Knowlton Strategies was also the PR company responsible for crafting a powerful enough campaign to get Americans to rally together in support of the war against Iraq
  • Hill and Knowlton is also the very same PR firm that the tobacco industry used in 1950 to carry on a 50-year successful strategy to have the public believe that cigarettes were not addictive and did not cause cancer

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Your invite to the Trade Secrets book launch

18 August 2020 — Global Justice Now!

We’re very excited to be publishing our director Nick Dearden’s new book, Trade Secrets: The truth about the US trade deal and how we can stop it, in under a week’s time.
We’d like to invite you to our book launch on Tuesday 1 September, where Nick will be in conversation with Zoe Williams, journalist at The Guardian and co-host of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast.

Our History is the Future: The Dakota Access Pipeline and the Long Tradition of Resistance

17 August 2020 — Climate & Capitalism

Book Review
 
The Dakota Access Pipeline fight continues the long history of struggle against colonial settler genocide and ecological vandalism.

Nick Estes
OUR HISTORY IS THE FUTURE
Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Long Tradition of Resistance

Verso Books, 2019

reviewed by Simon Butler

A US district court ruled on July 6 that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) must be shut down and emptied of oil, pending a full environmental review of the project. In March, the same court found the US Army Corps had wrongfully approved the pipeline in 2016. The Army Corps failed to assess the DAPL’s potential to cause devastating oil spills. Responding to the ruling, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said: “This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning.”

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Watch: John Pilger: China going into ‘state of SIEGE,’ will defend itself against the US!

12 August 2020 — RT

[Apologies for the duplication/confusion. I forgot that I’d already posted this interview with Pilger last week! So I deleted the one I put up this morning and moved the earlier one to the Home Page. WB]

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to legendary journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. He discusses the coronavirus pandemic and its damage to the UK, the scandal of some of the most vulnerable patients being thrown out of hospitals during the Covid-19 crisis, resulting in tens of thousands of excess deaths, the ongoing privatization of the NHS, and the continuous deterioration of the NHS before the pandemic, Matt Hancock’s performance as health secretary, the ongoing persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, new charges against him, efforts to extradite him to the US, and the silence of mainstream journalists on his persecution. Finally, John Pilger discusses rising tensions between the US and its allies and China, the hypocrisy of Western foreign policy against Beijing, the Hong Kong National Security Law, the US military encirclement of China, and how the country is entering a ‘state of siege,’ rising tensions with Australia, and more!
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